Graphical representation

General information

Description

Motivation

The Partition Pattern is a logical pattern that introduces axioms which model a partition of concepts. A partition is a general structure which is divided into several disjoint parts. With respect to ontologies the structure is a concept which is divided into several pair-wise disjoint concepts. This pattern reflects the simplest case where a named concept is defined as a partition of concepts.

Aim

The Partition Pattern describes how to model a partition, i.e., a named concept which is divided into several disjoint concepts. Applying this pattern to an ontology will introduce the necessary axioms.

Solution description

Let P be a named concept that is the partition which is divided into several concepts C_i. Then the partition is defined by introducing the following axioms (expressed in KRSS [1]):

Example

Problem example

In an ontology about family relationship we deﬁned concepts such as Person,

Aunt and ParentOfSon which are characterized by a relationships such as hasChild(resp. the inverse relationship hasParent), hasSibling, '
married-with as well as by the gender of people (Male respectively Female). There are a lot of similar ontologies about family relationships.